Secrets
by anna rutter
Summary: Everything was prefect for Elda. She had great friends, good grades. Then one day her best friend Joy disappeared and a new girl took her place. Now, her friends barely speak to her, to caught up with the new girl. It also seems like some of them are keeping a secret, and she intends to find out what it is. While making sure own her secret is kept well hidden. R&R please :)


Disclaimer: Me- I'll let Fabian do the honor of doing the disclaimer for me.

Fabian- what why me?

Me- Because I want you too. Please for me **pouts and gives him the puppy dog look**

Fabian- Ohhh alright **sighs** Anna Rutter under no circumstance, owns house of Anubis.

* * *

"Kids time to wake up! You have school today!" called our house mother Trudy. Groaning I got out of bed and stumbled to the bathroom. I quickly got undressed and stepped in the shower. I was about to put the shampoo in my hair when I noticed something strange about. There were traces of blue dye in the bottle. Two words immediately came to mind, _Jerome and Alfie._ Jerome and Alfie were two house mates of mine who were big pranksters. Jerome was a tall blonde light skinned boy, and Alfie was a kind of tall dark skinned boy. I was their favorite target since I made pranking a challenge for them. So anyways, I skipped the shampoo and conditioner all together, because knowing them they probably knew I was going to find out, but wanted to make me think that they only put stuff in the shampoo bottle. Stepping out of the shower I got dressed and put my hair in my trademark bun. Seeing as how I never really put any make up on, all that was left to do was get my bag ready. Soon that was done and I found that I had nothing to do, so I decided that I was going to get back at Jerome and Alfie for the attempted prank. I crept down stairs to the boy's dorm. On the way I grabbed a can of whipped cream from the kitchen. Entering their room, I inwardly cheered when I saw that both of them were still sound asleep. I carefully placed whipped cream on Jerome's hand and I took some of my hair and tickled his nose. It was an overused prank, but it always worked on them every time I did it. Stepping back I watched my prank unfold. Jerome wiped his nose and in result covered his face with whipped cream. Before Jerome woke up, I did the same to Alfie. Quickly I ran from the room. All of a sudden I heard a startled shout from Jerome and from Alfie soon after.

I slowed down and headed to the dining room table for some breakfast. The others were already up and ready and were already at the table. I took my place at the table next to my best friend Fabian. He had dark brown hair, and blue green eyes. He was also really tall, almost the same height as Jerome, who was a bit over six feet. I sat at the table next to him like I always did. "Was that Jerome and Alfie I just heard?" Fabian asked.  
"Yep" I said, popping the "p".

"What did they do this time?" he asked.

"They tried to dye my hair blue by putting blue dye in my shampoo and conditioner bottles. I knew what they were trying to do since they left some traces behind. All I did was return the favor." Fabian laughed. "So Elda, do you want to go shopping with me after school. I saw this really cute outfit that I really want to buy, but I want your opinion on it first," asked Amber. Amber was a tall blonde with blue eyes. She was really sweet, and loved to shop like crazy.

"Sorry, Fabian and I have to finish the rest of the assignment for French class, we can go on Saturday" I suggested.

"Oh alright, we can go on Saturday."  
"You guys finished it already! It isn't due until next Monday!" exclaimed Patricia. Patricia is gothic girl with really dark brown hair slightly dyed purple, with red and blue highlights. At first she seems kind of mean but she's actually really sweet, though Patricia will get back at anyone who says that to her.

"Well we almost finished it, Fabian and I worked on it all night when Mrs. Andrews assigned it," I replied.

"You two are such nerds," said Patricia.

"Hey, was that Jerome and Alfie I heard earlier?" asked Joy while taking a seat at the table next to Fabian. Joy was a petite girl with brown hair and brown eyes. She was also my best friend along with Patricia.

"Yeah I heard them earlier too, what was the deal?" asked Patricia.

"Alfie and Jerome tried to prank me, and I just returned the favor," I replied.

"Ahh." They all said.

"You would think they would know better by now," said Joy. "Anyways, we better get going if we want to be early."

"I better go ahead and try to find Mick," said Amber. Mick was another member of the house, and was Amber's boyfriend. He was a tall blonde, and was the athlete of the house. So anyways, Patricia, Joy, Fabian, and I said our goodbyes to Trudy and headed to school. The day passed by like any other day. Mick ended up being late to History, and Jerome and Alfie tried to get back at me for the prank, but failed. It was lunch time, and Fabian, Joy, Patricia and I were hanging out. Fabian and I were both sitting down, reading a science book, and Joy and Patricia were taking pictures. All of a sudden Joy tripped over Fabian and we all ended up laughing.

"Really Fabian, Elda, this," said Joy while holding up our science book.

"Yeah, just because it doesn't have Robert Pattison on the front cover, doesn't mean that it isn't worth reading," Fabian said.

"I beg to differ," said Joy. We heard the bell ring, signaling that lunch was over, so we got up and started walking back to school. All of a sudden we saw a taxi pass. Thinking nothing of it we kept going. When we were just about there, someone can barreling past us, knocking me over the little wall next to me, and making me fall into the bushes. Let me tell you it really hurt. "Sorry!" I heard someone, probably the person who knocked into me, say. I looked up I saw a girl running in the direction of the house. All of a sudden I felt two people pulling me up. It was Fabian and Patricia.

"Are you alright? You aren't hurt are you?" asked Fabian. I blushed a little at his concerned gaze.

"I'm alright, I just got a couple of scratches. Who was that?" I asked.

"I don't know, but it definitely was an American, judging from her accent," said Patricia. Shaking our heads we hurried back, and on our way back I looked over my shoulder and saw Fabian looking back at where the American girl headed. Frowning, I turned and continued on.

We had French class next so we headed there. Everything was pretty normal at first. We had a practice test, and Alfie got out of it by faking a nosebleed. Amber was talking on the phone to her dad, something about asking for some more money to get something, probably the outfit she was talking about earlier. Then all of a sudden Mr. Sweet, our principle, came in and said that Joy's parents were here and wanted to talk to her. I looked at Mrs. Andrew and was surprised about how unconcerned Ms. Andrew was. I got a little uneasy. Pushing the feeling aside, I went back to paying attention to Mrs. Andrew, who had went back to talking when joy had left.

The day ended up going by really quickly. Though I think the fact that Patricia, Fabian, and I were extremely worried about Joy helped matters. In between classes we asked if anyone had seen Joy, but they all said they hadn't. I suggested that Joy was at the house. So as soon as school let out, Patricia raced out, and shouted to us that she was going ahead to the house to see if Joy was there. Knowing how worried she was about Joy, we didn't complain. Fabian and I quickly went to our lockers, to get our stuff, along with Patricia's stuff. It was a good thing that the four of us told each other our locker combinations in case of an emergency or something like that. As soon as we got our stuff we headed to the house in silence, too caught up, in our own thoughts. We got to the house in no time and quickly headed inside. As soon as we got in we heard Patricia and someone else, yelling at each other. Since it was going on upstairs, we weren't able to make out what was being said. We saw Victor, our caretaker, come out of his office. Victor was a middle aged man in his late forties. He had a deep gruff voice, a slightly scary personality, and he was a big stickler for the rules. Almost everyone didn't like him, but what they didn't know was that he was actually a great person, especially if you want someone to talk to. Suddenly it got quiet up stairs and I figured that Victor handled everything, though judging by the stomping Patricia was making coming down the stairs, I would say that things didn't go in her favor.

"What's going on up there?" I asked.

"Joy's gone!" said Patricia. "She wasn't in her room, and remember when Joy's parents came to 'talk to her'? Well apparently her parents were here to PICK HER UP. Victor said that she left school permanently."

"Without saying goodbye or anything? That doesn't sound like Joy at all," I said, confused.

"That's exactly what I said, she even forgot her phone and bunzy buns. But Victor said to just leave it be. I think this has something to do with the new girl."

"What new girl?" asked Fabian.

"Remember that American girl that knocked you down Elda?"

"Yeah, how can I not forget it? Don't tell me it's that girl," I said.

"Exactly." I groaned out loud.

"I was afraid of that when I saw her heading in the direction of the house," I said.

"It was an accident Elda, I'm sure she is an okay person. We haven't even meet the girl," said Fabian. Patricia cleared her throat. "Well you and I haven't meet her yet."

"Oh alright, alright, I get your point. Did you ask Victor if you can get her home phone number Patricia?" I asked as we headed to the living room and sat down.

"No I didn't, I'll ask later on." We were going to talk more but the others started to come in.

"Hey did you find Joy?" asked Mara. She had a slightly dark skin color, with black hair and brown eyes. She was the other smart one in the house besides Fabian and me. She was also a really sweet girl.

"No, Joy left," said Patricia.

"What do you mean she left?" asked Jerome.

"I mean she was pulled out of school, according to Victor," Patricia said.

"That's weird, I wonder why," said Mara.

"She even left her cell phone and Bunzy buns here, and you know she would never leave Bunzy Buns. I say something weird is going on," said Patricia.

"Yeah maybe she was abducted by aliens," said Alfie. Jerome laughed at that.

"It's not funny Alfie!" exclaimed Patricia angrily.

"Why don't you just call her cell," said Amber.

"Keep up Amber, I just said she left her cell behind."

"So just text her."

"Stupidity league," said Patricia while tapping Amber on the Head. "Anyways, I'm going to ask Victor if I could have her home phone number later on."

"Good luck with that, you know how Victor is," said Alfie.

"And guess what, there's a new girl in her place," said Patricia.

"A new girl?" asked Amber.

"Yeah, the one that ran down Elda during lunch."

"You got knocked down?! Are you alright," asked Mara.

"Yeah just some scratches," I reassured.

"Anyways, apparently she's taking Joy's place," said Patricia.

"Really?" asked Alfie.

"Yeah and she's an American too."

"An American?" said Mara

"Yep, and she's obsessed with it, she said it about a hundred times," said Patricia in an irritated voice.

"Hey maybe the new girl abducted her," said Alfie jokingly.

"Yeah, maybe the new girl is an alien in a flesh suit," said Jerome.

"This isn't funny Jerome, Alfie," I said, getting a bit annoyed with them.

"And we are even having a romcon marathon tonight, and you know how much she loves those movies."

"Patricia, you've disappeared more than enough time yourself," said Jerome.

"Yeah but this is different," said Patricia. We all started throwing out opinions, and it got all crazy. All of a sudden we see a girl walk in.

"Hi, I'm Nina, and I'm from America," said the new girl, 'Nina'. She had dirty blonde hair and light blue eyes. She was wearing a black and white sweater with a redshirt underneath, and some dark blue skinny jeans. She was a lot shorter than me, which isn't surprising since I was almost as tall as Fabian. I heard Patricia make a noise at that. We got really silent.

"Hi," said Fabian. He was probably trying to break the tension. She looked at him briefly.

"Welcome space girl, or blarp blap blep blah, as they say in your language," said Alfie getting up from the couch. We all laughed at that and the tension that had been building up had disappeared. She looked really confused and that just made me laugh harder.

"Supper's ready!" called Trudy. We all headed to the table. Nina sat down where Amber usually sat.

"Um, that's my seat," said Amber.

"Oh I'm sorry do you want-"

"Where's Mick?" asked Amber, cutting her off. For some reason she was being rude which wasn't really like her.

"Um I don't even know who you are so…" she said. Amber turned around and headed out probably to find Mick.

"You heard what Amber said that's her seat," said Patricia a bit rudely as the new girl sat back down.

"Well she isn't here so," said the new girl, Nina I think was her name.

"That's your way isn't it, someone leaves for 5 seconds and you come moving in-"

"Patricia, is head of the welcoming committee," said Fabian loudly, cutting Patricia off. Patricia glared at him. "Take no notice, sit wherever you like."

"So how do you like this place so far?" I ask, trying to make friends with her like Fabian asked of me. Plus I kind of felt sorry for her, since Patricia and Amber were being so mean to her.

"Fine," she said.

"I'm Elda by the way, it's nice to meet you," I said smiling and shaking hands with her.

"And I'm Fabian, her best friend," said Fabian. Was it just me or did they stare at each other a little too long. Ah never mind, my mind is probably playing tricks on me. Next to me I heard Mara laughing and saying about something being disgusting. I turned around and saw Alfie stuffing his mouth with spaghetti.

"Alfie don't play with your food," said Jerome. The next thing I knew a food fight was going on. Covering myself with a plate I said to Nina, "I would suggest you find some cover, this could go on a while if Victor doesn't come in soon. You've meet Victor right?"

"Thanks," she said while copying me by using a plate to cover herself, "and yeah I have, is he always that creepy?"

"Only until you really get to know him, though I guess even then he's still kind of creepy." I was going to say more but the next thing I knew Patricia was dumping water on Nina's lap.

"Patricia!" Fabian and I both exclaimed.

"Opps, my hand slipped," she said in a fake sweet voice.

"Are you alright?" asked Fabian, while getting up and grabbing some napkins.

"Fine except I think my sweeter is shrinking to my body as we speak."

"So Nina when will you tell us what you know about Joy's disappearance hmm?" asked Patricia.

"I guess when I actually know something."

"oh come on, one minute I'm sitting next to Joy in class, and the next she's disappeared and you've taken her place. Bit of a coincidence don't you think?"

"I guess it is."

"Maybe she snatched her and locked her in the cellar. Whooo," said Alfie while laughing. Patricia made a face at him.

"Not now," I told him.

"Well?"

"Like I said I don't know anything about joy or her disappearance!"

"I'll get it out of you eventually."

"Nina phone call… What is going on here?" asked Victor who just walked in.

"Nothing just Nina spilled water everywhere," said Patricia.

They both walked out. As soon as they were gone I turned to Patricia.

"That was uncalled for."

"What? Do you want to find out about Joy or what?"

"You know I do but we can't go about pouring water on people who we suspect-"

"So you do think that she's suspicious," said Patricia.

"I'm saying that we should suspect everyone and everything, but we can't just go around accusing people we just meet about someone's disappearance without any real proof."

"Yeah for all we know, she could have nothing to do with Joy's disappearance," said Fabian.

"Oh please, you're only saying that because you have a thing for the new girl," said Patricia.

"I don't have a thing for the new girl," said Fabian. For some reason I felt relieved at that. "Anyways, I'm going to check if she's okay," he said. With that he got up and left. With a frustrated sigh Patricia left, and soon so did everyone else. After a bit Fabian came back.

"How is she?" I asked softly.

"She's really upset. I found her crying by the phone."

"I feel really bad for her. I really don't think that she is involved in Joy's disappearance."

"You really don't thinks so?"

"Not really, I mean you can tell by just looking at her face when she responds to Patricia accusations. I think it's just bad timing, you know what I mean?"

"Yeah I think so too. Well we better just leave it for now, will see if we can find out more later on." With that we finished eating our now cold food and headed to the living room with the others to do our homework.

After a couple of hours we finished all our assigned homework, even the ones due next week. Fabian was just going to get us some snacks while we played some cards, while Amber was talking to Mick about stuff in a fashion magazine, and Mara was reading a book. While we were playing, I saw Fabian looking at Nina every now and then, and sometimes smiling at her. I was slightly upset but I just brushed it off. After a while, Patricia went upstairs to Victor's office to ask for Joy's home phone number. But after a couple of minutes Patricia came back down looking frustrated and upset.

"I can't believe that creep won't give me Joy's home number. At least she should get her stuff back day after tomorrow."

"That's good, you'll be able to ring her then," said Mara encouragingly. Patricia just smiled and turned to Nina. Uh-Oh, here we go again, I thought.

"I know you've got something to do with it newbie," said Patricia, "and I'm going to find out what it is."

"So you've mentioned, ten times," Nina murmured. Uh-oh, wrong thing to say.

"What did you say?"

"Nothing," she said.

After a while of awkward silence everyone went their separate ways. It was now around 10 when Mick came into Amber, Mara's, and my room.

"Oh Mick, I only have one eye on!" said Amber who was just taking her makeup off.

"I like the Panda look," said Mick.

"Aww, thanks babe, and it's sweet of you to come and see me."

"Actually its Mara I came to see," said Mick.

"Me Mara?" asked Mara. Even I'll admit I'm kind of surprised.

"Yeah I was kind of struggling on the Biology assignment, and I was wondering since you're the Biology Babe," Amber mouthed Biology babe to me questionly, but I just shrugged my shoulder, "I was wondering if you could help me out?" asked Mick. Amber shook her head at Mara.

"Um, sure, why not, a friend in need, tomorrow evening?" Mara said. I guess it's not too surprising since Mick did need help, and I knew that Mara wouldn't say no to helping someone. Unfortunately, Amber didn't have the same feelings as me judging by the fact that she was giving Mara a look.

"It's a date, in a manner of speaking. Catch ya later Babe, see ya Elda" said Mick to Amber and me as he left. We both smiled and waved. As soon as the door closed, Amber looked at Mara.

"What?! Do you want him to fail Biology?" asked Mara.

"Probably not, but why doesn't he ask me to help him with his homework?" asked Amber. We both looked at her. "Okay, but I don't like him asking another girl, even when it's you, or even Elda."

"AMBER, relax, he only wants me for my brains, and you, you're textbook gorgeous. He's crazy about you," reassured Mara.

"Exactly Amber," I said.

"Yeah you're both right, as usual, after all what's not to like." Mara and I both look at her. Down below, we heard Victor giving his ten o'clock speech.

"I guess that's our que," I said. We started to go to bed. I was doing my nightly tradition of writing in my diary, when all of a sudden Patricia came barreling into our room looking scared.

"Elda, Mara come quickly!" said Patricia urgently.

"What's the matter?" asked Mara.

"Joy!" at that we all jumped up and ran to the bathroom, where Patricia was leading us to. Patricia opened the door and we found Nina wiping down the mirror, which I didn't find odd, but apparently Patricia did.

"What are you doing?!" asked Patricia.

"Wiping down the mirror," said Nina.

"Did you not see what was on it?!"

"Steam?" said Nina. She looked confused. Frustrated, Patricia threw her hands up.

"She's wiped it off!"

"What did it say?" asked Mara.

"It said 'Help Me Joy' and she's wiped it off, so now it looks like I'm going crazy."

"Take it easy Patricia," I said. I knew she saw something, but I didn't know if it was real, or a prank that Alfie and Jerome pulled.

"This is what she wanted, she's involved I'm telling you!"

"I didn't see anything when I wiped the steam off the mirror, except for myself, I swear!" She said. I knew both of them were telling the truth, so the thing was, what exactly is going on?

"Why are you girls not in your rooms?" Startled we all turned around and saw Victor walking towards us with Cobiar (AN: is that how you spell it?) with him. "You know the rules."

"I don't want to share with her," said Patricia all of a sudden.

"You know what I'll move, half my pile is on the floor anyway. Or I could just sleep on the couch," said Nina.

"Nobody is moving anywhere, now get to your rooms immediately."

With that we all headed off to bed. Well you defiantly can't say it wasn't an interesting day. After finishing writing in my journal, I turned off the light and fell asleep.

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AN: How was it? Love it? Hate it? I tried to keep to the series as much as possible. I don't know when the next update will be since I'm currently working on another story (which I should be focusing on but oh well :)). Hopefully I'll see you all soon!

~Anna Rutter


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